Diets & Meal Plans
Food to Eat and Avoid If You Have Arthritis
Arthritis is not one disease, but a set of diseases that share inflammation of the joints and mild to severe pain. Of the main types of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common. It is a disease characterized by a rather peculiar inefficiency of the immune system. The immune system starts to attack the inner lining of the joints. This has a telling impact on the body as it suffers from damage to synovial tissues, swelling of the joints, bone damage, cartilage damage, inflammation and permanent damage as a whole on its progression. The disease is incurable and the joints become stiff or cease to function if left untreated. Other forms of arthritis include psoriatic arthritis and osteoarthritis. The treatment for the disease includes medication that helps to reduce pain and inflammation. There are several anti-inflammatory foods that you can include in your diet as well. There are several foods to avoid with arthritis problem, as they may trigger joint pain. Here are a few of the best foods you should eat and a few food items you should avoid. Foods to avoid with arthritis Fried and processed food: To put it in simple terms, avoid eating junk food as far as possible. The body’s natural defences can be restored and inflammation reduced over time if you abstain from eating fried and processed food. Replace eating these with an increased amount of fruits and vegetables in your diet. This is one of the sure shot foods to avoid with arthritis. AGE: AGE is a toxin which appears in food items when they are grilled, fried, pasteurized or heated. These toxins damage certain proteins in the body which leads the body to release cytokines to break the AGEs. Cytokines are inflammatory messengers and an increased amount of AGES in the body can lead to onset of arthritis.